Fossil fuels are a finite, non-renewable resource formed from decayed plants and animals that have been converted to crude oil, coal, natural gas, or heavy oils by exposure to heat and pressure in the earth's crust over hundreds of millions of years. However, as the world's petroleum resources are depleting coupled with its ever-increasing prices, many industries worldwide have been looking into renewable/sustainable raw materials to replace petroleum-based materials in their manufacturing processes.
Industrial oleochemicals are useful in the production of surfactants, lubricants, fuels, plastics, and the like. Oleochemicals include, but are not limited to, fatty alcohols, esters and paraffins. Providing efficient processes for directly converting renewable materials into such products would be highly desirable.